Bloomberg: ‘Essential’ Press Be with Trump In Case of ‘Assassination’

The liberal media was up in arms Wednesday over President-Elect Donald Trump having the nerve to want a relatively quiet dinner with his family away from the press. Bloomberg’s John Heilemann decried the president-elect on With All Due Respect, calling the dinner, “a major brake in protocol and one the White House Correspondents Association called, quote, ‘unacceptable.’” When discussing why the press needed to know the whereabouts of the president Heilemann and his co-host Mark Haplerin were fixated on presidential assassinations.

“We need to be with the president-elect and the president of the United States,” explained Halperin, “Not because we’re trying to bother him, but because it is our job to cover him, and in the world in which we live-- Kennedy assassination, 9/11.” Heilemann chimed in noting, “Reagan assassination attempt, you know.”

“And if something happens to him, the public deserves to know the moment—as quickly as possible that thing has happened in case he’s incapacitated, as you said, and the power has to be transferred to another officer in the government—the vice president or someone else,” Heilemann continued to ramble.

Halperin hopped that Trump would soon accept that the press will be with him at all times, so they can move on to scrutinizing his administration. “And what I don't want is for this fight to become such a lightning rod (as important as it is) that we don't think about all of the areas in which we need to fight so there is the kind of coverage the American public, not just wants, but needs and deserves of this administration,” he argued.

Their talk about assassinations was sparked by Heilemann wondering when Trump would be “bridled” and “inevitably be brought to heel by the press like every other past president.” Surly this kind of terminology wouldn’t dare be used against President Barack Obama, especially since he gave the press the slip in Hawaii back in 2008. Something both Bloomberg reporters completely failed to mention.

Closing out the segment, Heilemann tried to smear Trump by mischaracterizing Trump’s press-less excursion, claiming, “The president cannot be out in the middle of the night nightclubbing, in Manhattan, without anybody knowing where he is, it’s not cool.” But as amusing as the thought of Trump cutting a rug is, the overblown hysteria from the liberal media is a deception to the public since he was only few blocks from Trump Tower.

Transcript below:

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JOHN HEILEMANN: Donald J. Trump gave his press pool the slip last night. About two hours after reporters were informed by the campaign (or the transition team) that the president-elect was in Trump Tower and locked up tight for the evening, Trump and his family took it on the hoof – on the lamb and went out to dinner at the 21 Club. How do we know, that that’s where he went? Bloomberg’s intrepid 21 Club correspondent, Kate Smith, seen here hovering behind the president-elect was there. When Trump and his family arrived. We caught up with Ms. Smith in the Bloomberg hallway and asked her to file this report.

KATE SMITH: Last night, my colleagues and I were having dinner at the 21 Club. And we noticed there was a famous person behind us. It was Ivanka Trump and her husband. About 20 minutes later after we noticed she was there, in came the entire Donald Trump clan. It wasn't exactly a standing ovation, it was more of a muted acknowledgement he was there. Maybe half a dozen people clapped for him. He ordered a $36 burger and a virgin bloody Mary. We did hear he was talking about a potential female press secretary.

HEILEMANN: Wow, that’s stellar reporting Kate. Thank you for that.

Not telling the press pool about the president-elect’s whereabouts is, of course, a major brake in protocol and one the White House Correspondents Association called, quote, “unacceptable,” in its statement about Trump’s excursion.

This was not the first time Trump has shunned his traveling press corps. He’s done it as a candidate and as president-elect. His spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, told reporters that a so-called protective pool hasn’t officially been set up yet and the journalists will eventually have, quote, “all of the access they have ever had under any president.”

Now, every incoming president invariably claims he won election by going over the heads of the press corps, and that he bridles when the press corps demands he gives up any semblance of his privacy for the sake of public accountability. Enter Donald Trump who has argued more flamboyantly than any predecessor the MSM is irrelevant and whose privacy was more or less sacrosanct until he entered the political arena. So Mark, what is going to happen now with Donald Trump? Will he inevitably be brought to heel by the press like every other past president or can this guy be the guy who actually says screw it, I'm going to do what I want?

MARK HALPERIN: I'm optimistic and hopeful, but the press has to really be diligent about this and we need to always talk about it in terms of the public interest. We need to be with the president-elect and the president of the United States. Not because we’re trying to bother him, but because it is our job to cover him, and in the world in which we live-- Kennedy assassination, 9/11.

HEILEMANN: Reagan assassination attempt, you know.

HALPERIN: It’s just essential that this exist. And what I don't want is for this fight to become such a lightning rod (as important as it is) that we don't think about all of the areas in which we need to fight so there is the kind of coverage the American public, not just wants, but needs and deserves of this administration.

HEILEMANN: The press has an obligation to try and hold Donald Trump accountable against all of the norms that we expect from every president, Republican and Democrat. This is not a more important norm, but this is a norm and there are reasons for it. It is not that we are voyeurs, and it’s not that we want to be peeping Toms in some way.

It is the case that he is the most powerful and important person in the world. And if something happens to him, the public deserves to know the moment—as quickly as possible that thing has happened in case he’s incapacitated, as you said, and the power has to be transferred to another officer in the government—the vice president or someone else. It is important that the public deserves to know that and the president should be respectful enough, of the public that elected him, to say “ok, this is the price of being president of the United States. I will willingly and in some ways even gladly pay.”

…

The president cannot be out in the middle of the night nightclubbing, in Manhattan, without anybody knowing where he is, it’s not cool.

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